Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
Image supplier
As a supplier of images you would like to offer us great images or high quality technical illustrations? We look forward to that whether you are an
amateur or professional. We are not interested in the history of your photographic background but photographic material with good content and
quality and expressive motifs are always needed.
Selection of images
Send only your best photographic material. Do not upload series of similar motives. The best 2-3 images of a theme or from a series are more than
sufficient (always in both landscape and portrait format). Images with a similar theme should be uploaded together.
Selection of images in order to apply
To apply send us a selection of your best images. These should be a cross-section of your photographic work and show the quality of technique
and content. Please bear in mind that on the basis of these images we decide if your image material could be marketed by us. To apply you can
upload between 10 - 30 images in high-resolution quality. Please only upload pictures in their original resolution and no preview images!
Microstock, Midstock and traditional stock agencies
We differentiate between stock agencies by image costs and the type of licence offered. There are Microstock agencies with image prices starting
at 1 USD, Midstock with image prices between 20 und 100 USD and traditional stock agencies. Traditional agencies like alimdi offer both Royalty
Free and Rights Managed licenses and prices are considerably higher than Micro - and Midstock.
You should not offer to Micro- or Midstock agencies the same or similar images to be marketed by alimdi. Please decide before uploading through
which distribution channel you wish to offer an image or market it in future.
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
Exclusive / non-exclusive
In supplying images you can decide for each image if it should be exclusively or non-exclusively (one time right of use) marketed by alimdi. You can
market images not labeled exclusive through other agencies (but not Micro- and Midstock agencies). All images labeled exclusive can only be
marketed by alimdi and its partner agencies.
The advantages of exclusive marketing are self evident. The purchaser of the image finds the same image only in a single agency. Additionally,
images offered as exclusive are more frequently used for advertising purposes. Also the agency and the photographer have the opportunity of
standing out from the masses and of marketing the image material in a particular manner.
Partner agencies
As alimdi cooperates worldwide with partner agencies it is absolutely necessary that you inform us of all of your existing distribution partners.
Your existing partners (agencies, sub-agencies or portals) must be listed when you create an account. We will not supply any image to an agency
you have blacklisted. Should you intend at a later date to cooperate with another agency, this is only possible if this agency does not already
cooperate with alimdi. In this case please send us an enquiry by email or through your client account.
Royalties and invoicing
The net royalties earned from distribution of rights of use are split 50/50 (photographer/Alimdi.net). Invoicing is done quarterly. The payment of
royalties takes place upon invoicing by the photographer and, depending on the country, is made through bank transfer or PayPal. Invoicing
should follow an existing invoicing template which is at your disposal through your client account.
Types of license
The two most commonly used types of licence are Rights Managed (subject to license, RM) and Royalty Free (licence free, RF).
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
 Rights Managed (RM): RM images are licenced to the user for specific predetermined uses. This means, before using the image the client
must state the exact type of use (editorial or advertising), image dimensions, and number of copies, place and duration of use.
 Royalty Free (RF): These images are free for non exclusive use and may be used any number of times upon payment of a single flat rate fee.
In regard to their use Royalty Free images are subject to few limitations and thus must be free of rights of third parties.
Choice of licence type
In supplying an image to alimdi you assign the type of licence for the image. If, for example, you label an image as RF, then you may not distribute
the same or similar motif as RM (even to other agencies).
Rights Managed usually include all motifs with persons, buildings, products, trademarks or works of art which do not have a valid release. Only
images where all rights have been clarified and the necessary releases have been submitted may be offered Royalty Free. The photo editors of
alimdi reserve the right to change, where required, the type of licence.
Model / Property Releases
When supplying images to us, it is important to pay attention to possible personal rights, trademark rights, copyrights and property rights. If
necessary please attach to the image a correctly completed and signed Model- and/or Property Release. An existing Release increases the chances
of an image being used for advertising purposes.
For Royalty Free images a release is required in the following cases.
 Images in which persons are clearly recognised (personal rights)
 Images of clearly identifiable products, goods, trademarks (trademark rights)
 Images of copyright protected buildings photographed from private places or with the assistance of accessories (ladders, balconies, etc.)
(property rights, copyrights)
 Images of photographs, works of art or other motifs covered by copyrights
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
File name
File names must be unique. They must also ensure that a file name already assigned cannot be reused. Therefore we recommend immediately
after downloading from the camera chip renaming the file in a unique format.
The following formats are recommended: 2006-05-06-0001 (Year-Month-Day-consecutive number), 20060307-0001 (YearMonthDay-consecutive
number), abc-20060307-0001 (personal abbreviation-YearMonthDay-consecutive number).
Numbers (0-9), letters (upper case or small letters) as well as hyphens and underlining are permitted. Spaces, apostrophes, special characters and
umlauts (ä, ü, ö) as well as ß are not permitted. Additionally the file name including suffix (*.jpg, *.jpeg) should not exceed 23 characters.
File format
We only accept files ending in *.jpg und *.jpeg. Quality in storing in Photoshop should be greater than 10. A good mean value is level 11. Please do
not upload any other file formats as these cannot be processed by our system.
File size
Never interpolate (extrapolate) image files! The resolution must be greater than 10 million (MP, for example, 3900 x 2600 pixels) and should not
exceed 30 Megabytes (compressed). We know that files smaller than 10 MP would suffice. However, many of our customers prefer larger formats
and the chances of sale increase many times over.
Image editing
All images must be technically perfect. This means: no dust particles on the image, no under- or overexposure, no colour noise, no artifacts,
natural contrast and saturation and no use of colour noise suppression software. In addition, images should be unsharpened or scarcely
sharpened. All processing of the image should be carried out at 100% view. Only then it is possible to make a clear assessment.
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
Colour space
If possible, when taking the photograph please use the colour space of Adobe 98. Also use this in Photoshop. However, should the images already
exist in another colour space such as, for example, sRGB, and then please do not change.
Scans
We accept scans if they are of high quality and have been professionally scanned. Scans must be sharp and not too coarse-grained. Please scan in
A3 at 300 dpi with colour space Adobe RGB.
Camera information (EXIF)
Do not delete any EXIF files. We understand that some photographers do not like to reveal the exposure data. However, a missing EXIF arouses
mistrust and hinders the work of the photo editor. In addition, available EXIF allows some tasks to be done automatically.
Image keywording (IPTC)
Proper and correct image keywording helps ensure that the images can be found. In addition, the buyer of the image requires correct image
information and wants to avoid unsuitable queries through the use of the wrong keywords. It can be said with certainty that the description and
the keywords, in addition to the image quality, are critical in ensuring possible sales. Please take sufficient time and pay attention to professional
keywording of the images.
In importing IPTC to our database we read this and make this data available immediately. Various import filters are available for import.
Required IPTC fields
All images and illustrations must be keyworded in one language. Alimdi is responsible for the translation of the data into other languages.
 Description (Caption)
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
 (Keywords)
 Date of shooting (if no longer available in the EXIF)
IPTC image keywording (application images)
Your application images should be keyworded (Caption, Keywords etc.) including the format, should you wish to supply all images in the future.
Configuration of the import filter is not required for uploading application images.
Description (Caption)
The description tells the person seeking images what is portrayed on the image and can include more detailed information on the content. The
description is not used in the search for the image and is purely for describing the content of the image.
The following must be taken into consideration in the description:
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The image description must be available in at least one language
The description can consists of single words or several sentences
If you copy the description of one image to another image, please check again that it is correct
All important details of the description should be at the beginning (for example, e.g. Texas toad, portrait, Bufo speciosus, Rio Grande,
Texas, United States)
In the case of plants and animals, the correct Latin name also must be used
Please do not include information such as address or bank details in the description
Add to the keywords all relevant words in the description
Avoid misspellings
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
Sample Caption
Texas toad, portrait, Bufo speciosus, Rio Grande, Texas, United States
Right way in business, symbol image decider
Keywords
Keywords are used to find the image. Please only use terms which can be clearly seen on the image and which fit with the contents of the image.
In using keywords attention should be paid to the following.
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The keywords must be available in at least one language
Avoid misspellings
If you copy keywords from one image to another, please check these again to ensure they are correct
Each keyword should consist of a single word
Keywords should not contain special characters
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
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All relevant words in the description should be added to the keywords
Declinations: Declinations like, go, going or leave, leaving should be added
Query example
Keywords used: child, going, road
The person searching for an image uses: child who goes on a road
The image will not be found in this way. Try to place yourself in the position of the person searching for an image when adding the
keywords.
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Compound words: By default searches are only for whole words so words like ‚birdhouse’ should be separated and the individual words
(bird, house) should be used for the search.
Singular and plural: If several apples are seen on an image then please uses both search queries ’apple’ and ‘apples’. If only one apple is
portrayed then use only the singular.
Use synonyms: If an image shows a cigarette then you should search for possible synonyms such as filter cigarette, fags, ciggy, and coffin
nails. However, these words must fit to the image and be in common language usage.
Sample Keywords
adult, amphibian, amphibians, animal, animals, Anura, Bufo, Bufonidae, County, day, daylight, daytime, during, exterior, exteriors, fauna, Frog,
Frogs, Grande, head, heads, kingdom, nature, nobody, outdoor, photo, photos, portrait, portraits, Rio, Salientia, shot, shots, South, speciosus,
Starr, Texas, the, Toad, toads, USA, Valley, wild, wildlife, world usw.
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Photographers Guideline
alimdi pro . stock agency . [email protected] . www.alimdi.net
accept, accountable, advancement, aim, alternative, ambitious, arrow, arrows, aspiring, bearing, behavior, bracket, business, businessman,
businessmen, businesspeople, career, cessation, chance, change, charge, choice, considerable, contractor, decide, decidedness, decision, decisionmaker, decision-making, decisive, determination, determined, determinedness, direction, disorientation, economy, education, emblematic,
employed, face, figurative, fingerpost, freedom, fundamental, general, give, goal, goal-oriented, guidance etc.
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